The fast-approaching New Year tends to bring a bit of nostalgia --
and indeed, soccer fans in the U.S. had a lot to commemorate in 2009.
Whether you're a follower of the U.S. national team, Major League
Soccer, the UEFA Champions League or all of the above, this past year
provided a collection of drama that proved that more boards are surfing
the soccer wave than ever before.

Here are 10 moments, in no particular order:

On-loan drama. Was David Beckham
a prisoner of fortune to the Los Angeles Galaxy, chained down and
unable to leave Major League Soccer as he longed to stay with AC Milan? Everyone
had an opinion.

Fans of Serie A suddenly found themselves in heated
arguments with MLS followers about what was best for the English
midfielder. At first, the joke was on MLS for signing a player who wanted to leave to join another team.

But then Tim Leiweke, acting as Galaxy owner Phil Anschutz's
right-hand man, stood his ground on Beckham's contract and suddenly,
MLS became the little American league who wouldn't get pushed around,
no matter how much history AC Milan had.

Beckham, doing
damage control on the image that was emerging of him as a selfish
deal-breaker, had to face skeptical questioning from all corners of the
mainstream American media.

Beckham didn't emerge unscathed, but his
play in Italy and the aid he offered his team there won him a host of
new fans. When he helped the Galaxy make the playoffs upon his return
to MLS, Beckham also won back quite a few of the supporters he had
alienated with his long loan.

Seattle stuns the skeptics.
The expansion Sounders smashed expectations by breaking nearly every
attendance record that existed in MLS.

Their fans were so fervent that
old notions many had about Americans who yawned their way through a
soccer match and left early were shattered forever.

Even when
celebrated clubs like Chelsea and Barcelona stopped by on preseason
tours, the soccer-savvy Seattle fans weren't over-awed. They kept on
cheering for their hometown players. Perhaps inspired by the outpouring
of love and affection, Seattle Sounders FC had a sterling first season,
making the playoffs.

Lionel Messi's header in the Champions League final.
The year was dominated by the little Argentine, as he and his Barcelona
teammates won an unprecedented triple of awards. Sure, fans in the U.S.
were thousands of miles away from Rome's Olympic Stadium, but when
Messi sealed the win over Manchester United, they still raised their
glasses in tribute.

Diego Maradona does it again.
The original little Argentine hogged the spotlight, even as Messi
reached transcendence, but Maradona was the bloated cloud on that
parade time and again. Everyone had an opinion on Maradona as a
national-team coach, and even those who professed to to care about
Argentina's fate found themselves tuning into games to see whether
Maradona could actually bungle things enough to keep the squad out of
the World Cup. He couldn't, but his effort came pretty close, racking
up some embarrassing losses, like the six goals the team surrendered to
Bolivia in one particularly horrid match.

Henry's hand ball. No, it's not about to eclipse Zinedine Zidane's head-butt of Marco Materrazi, but Thierry Henry's
hand ball to push Ireland out of a World Cup spot made the Frenchman a
worldwide villain to many, or a key manipulator of a flawed system by
others.

Nothing sparks interest like debate, however, and fans all
across the country debated the possibilities of extra referees, video
replay and banning players with a new fervor after Henry's action.

The royal flush.
Real Madrid stocked the larder with some of the world's best and most
expensive players, spitting in the face of the worldwide recession with
grabby transfers of superstars Kaká and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The stay-or-go saga of both players took some time and alternately
enthralled or disgusted the observers. Yet even naysayers tuned in to
watch such dynamic players share the field.

Landon Donovan's Confederations Cup goal vs. Brazil.
Yes, the historic win over Spain was more momentous, given that it was
actually a victory. But the way the U.S. players performed at times in
the competition, it was easy to believe that win was just a fluke. Even
Clint Dempsey's opening goal against the South American giants was easily construed by many as a fortunate strike.

But when Ricardo Clark hit an outlet pass to Donovan, and he worked a stunning give-and-go sequence with speedy forward Charlie Davies, the quality of the entire buildup was far too high to be dismissed as mere coincidence.

Brazil
woke up, got mad and restored the natural order of things before the
final whistle, but that didn't change what happened after Donovan
struck. Simply put, there was a new look of respect on the faces of the
Brazil players (some of the world's very best in the sport) as they
contemplated how much work it would take to defeat the U.S.

Sure, they
got their Confederations Cup title, but the Brazilians had to claw
their way back from two goals down. They'd be the first to say the
Americans made them earn it.

Jonathan Bornstein's goal vs. Costa Rica. Too, little, too late, it seemed of the U.S.' frantic effort to score the equalizer on los Ticos in their final qualifying match. Yet even while a man down due to Oguchi Onyewu's
injury, the Americans forced the issue and found a way to score,
leaving scores of thrilled Honduran fans celebrating their return to
the World Cup tournament.

No. 9, No. 9, No. 9...
Thousands of fans held "9" signs up to send goodwill and encouragement
to USA striker Davies, whose untimely injury in a car accident has probably
cost him a World Cup spot. Fans everywhere threw out their mock
starting XI list and began all over again.

Still, Davies can only be
encouraged at the impressive amount of support he has received from those
hoping to keep the faith for the U.S. through the World Cup. Time to say goodbye.
For many fans of Mexican soccer (and the U.S. is home to a sizable
number), the year was the best and worst of times, with the national
team losing to the U.S. in February in qualifying and then struggling
in other matches. Then Javier Aguirre returned, replacing Sven-Göran Eriksson, and righted the El Tri ship, leaving supporters relieved and daring to hope for more. Another departure was harder to take.

The shock of Antonio de Nigris' early death, welled new emotion to the league championships in Mexico, as little brother Aldo
and his Monterrey teammates claimed the Mexican Apertura title in
memory of the older brother whole life was cut short by a heart attack. Andrea Canales is chief editor of Goal.com North America.